This year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open will be missing one of its most intriguing storylines

The seventh playing of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open gets underway Thursday at San Diego Country Club, with five of the six previous champions in the field and seven former U.S. Women’s Open winners also competing. But missing this year for the first time in the championship’s history is the most decorated female USGA winner of them all, JoAnne Carner.

The 86-year-old, who lives in Florida, declined her exemption into the event, telling Golfweek that her game wasn’t in good enough shape to compete. “I just got into some real bad habits," Carner said, noting that she had lost upwards of 30 yards of distance from when she played last year at Fox Chapel Golf Club outside Pittsburgh, Pa.

The good news? Carner says her health is fine and that she’s still practicing at home. She intends to watch the championship on TV.

Carner, who has won eight USGA titles, more than any other female golfer, has been a mainstay in the championship since it debuted in 2018. During the inaugural edition at Chicago Golf Club, Carner hit the opening tee shot, and in 2021, at 82, she set the record for the oldest player to compete in a USGA event.

While she has yet to make the cut in six starts at the Senior Women’s Open, Carner notably shot her age or better eight times in the championship, including both rounds last year.

Carner’s USGA titles include the Girls’ Junior, five Women’s Amateurs and two Women’s Opens. Two weeks ago, the USGA honored her by naming the medal handed out to the winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur the JoAnne Carner Medal.